Taking payments online in the Gulf: Mada, Apple Pay, Tabby and Tamara

What customers expect to see

Card payments alone are rarely enough in the Gulf. In Saudi Arabia most debit cards run on mada, the national debit network, and customers look for it at checkout. Apple Pay is widely used and works with mada cards. Many shoppers also expect to split larger payments.

Instalments: Tabby and Tamara

Tabby and Tamara let customers split a purchase into a few instalments without interest to the customer. The store pays a fee and receives the full amount. Both work across Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and each has its own approval and onboarding for businesses.

The gateway ties it together

Your site talks to one payment gateway, and the gateway offers the methods: cards, mada, Apple Pay, STC Pay and instalments. Gateways such as HyperPay, Moyasar, Tap, PayTabs or Checkout.com differ in the methods, countries and settlement currencies they support, so compare those three first.

Store platform or custom site

Store platforms such as Salla and Zid come with Gulf payment methods built in, which is the quickest route for a standard online shop. A custom site or portal needs a gateway integration; that makes sense when payment is one step in a wider process, such as a registration, a booking or an invoice.

What to prepare

Each provider runs its own checks, but most ask for the same things:

• A registered business and a bank account in the country where you will be paid.
• Your commercial registration and company documents for onboarding.
• A clear refund and cancellation policy on your site.
• Prices shown with VAT where it applies.
• A test period in the gateway sandbox before going live.

Where we can help

We connect payment to the process around it: a registration, a ticket, an order or an invoice, so the payment, the confirmation email and your records stay in step.